


Sailing/Adventure

by FireFaceOutlook



Series: SaboAce Week, 2017 [3]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Helene (minor OC), Inna (minor OC), Kita Hyobe (minor OC), Luciano (minor OC), M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2017-03-23
Packaged: 2018-10-09 12:44:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10412403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireFaceOutlook/pseuds/FireFaceOutlook
Summary: Sabo was recovered by the Revolutionaries, like in canon, but he was not permitted to join the Revolutionaries because Dragon did not want to drag a child into such a war against the world/World Government (Koala hasn't joined at this point; she joined after Sabo did in canon).  However, Dragon agreed to drop Sabo off at Loguetown so he was as far from Dawn Island as possible without going into the Grandline.  At the age of 18, Sabo decided to set sail for the Grandline to have an adventure.





	

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N: So...OCs. *fidgets* Yeah, I made them up on the spot. I wanted Sabo to go alone, originally, buuuut...well, like Smoker said, a fishing boat wouldn't have made it up Reverse Mountain, much less through the Grandline, and one man, even as talented as Sabo is, can't run a ship. You can ignore this if you don't really care, but I promise they're really minor OCs.**
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> **1\. Kita Hyobe – originally from the West or South Blue (no one's really sure). That's why he has red hair. He's a(n ex-)marine who has been to the Grandline briefly, but never actually had to travel it aside from crossing from his home to the East Blue. He is shorter than all of them and looks really skinny, but if you look closely, you can see the underlying muscle. He has sandy hair and dark eyes that could be purple, brown, or even grey, and freckles mar every visible space of skin.**  
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> **2\. Luciano – he is actually from North Blue. He's an ex-convict, but not a pirate or anything. He's reformed (mostly) and jumped at the chance to get out of Loguetown and his current, boring life. He is tall and well-muscled with scars stretching taunt over his shoulders and collarbone; his sun-tan skin makes the scars all the more visible. He is eldest amongst the group, but not by much. Stress has caused his dark brown hair to have strands of silver mixed in and his eyes are two different colours – one blue, one brown.**  
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> **3\. Helene – she's an East Blue native. She comes from the same island that Nami and Nojiko are from, though obviously she left before its occupants were wiped out. One of her parents was from the North, thus why she has dark skin, but her other parent was from the West, giving her her light hair. She's a Devil Fruit user who gains energy from light in any form, though the sun works best. She can use that energy as a weapon – like bullets – or to boost her adrenaline, or even preserve it for later in case they need an inextinguishable (with the exception of the sea) light source in the dark. She can only hold so much light, though. She won't go anywhere without Inna and convinced her friend to travel with her. She has bleach-blonde curls and darker skin than Luciano. She also has freckles, but just over her nose and at the corner of her left eye. Both of her eyes are amber with green speckles. Her voice is loud and confident, commanding attention.**  
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> **4\. Inna – she's from the South and she's lived with Helene from childhood. She has more medical knowledge than the rest of the group, though she's definitely not a doctor. She has long, straight maroon hair and skin as pale as Sabo's, if not paler, with not a single mark or blemish. She burns easily in the sun, though, and she's quiet-spoken. She's incredibly intelligent, though she doesn't like to flaunt.**  
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Sabo was grateful towards the Revolutionaries for many reasons, but none more than the fact that they saved his life and didn't make him go back to his parents. (He didn't remember them – in fact, everything before waking on the bed in Revolutionaries' ship was frustratingly blank – but the thought of returning to them made him feel extremely ill and anxious.) Though he was disappointed that they wouldn't let him join them, they brought him as far across the East Blue as they could before they had to depart for the Grandline. That landed him in Loguetown.

“Be careful,” Inazuma said as she handed him a bag of food, belis, too-big clothes, and a couple blankets. “I hope we meet again soon.”

“Thank you,” he replied as he accepted the bag.

He got farewells from a lot of the Revolutionaries, including Ivankov, in female form, and the stoic Kuma. As they filed onto the ship, restocked and ready to set off once more, Dragon appeared next to Sabo with a soft gust of wind accompanying him.

“Here.” He tossed Sabo a leather-bound journal with a quill pen and small bottle of ink attached. “You should make logs of your life from now on, in case you have more memory issues in the future.”

Sabo hadn't even considered that and clutched the journal close.

“Thank you!” he called as Dragon boarded the ship and Revolutionaries on the deck waved.

“Let's meet again, Sabo-boy!” Iva shouted before the ship was out of sight.

“Yeah...” Sabo agreed quietly to himself. “One day...”

Now alone with no memories and only the items given to him by his short-term companions, Sabo turned to face Loguetown, his new home for the time being. Taking a deep breath of the air, which smelled like the ocean itself, and reaching up to adjust the patch one of the doctors on the ship had given him to conceal his facial scar and blind eye, Sabo approached the town.

  


During his first week in Loguetown, he learned of its history, including hearing from some old bartender that the Pirate King was born in the town and was executed in the town square. Something in Sabo resonated with the name of the Pirate King – Gold Roger, or _Gol D. Roger_ , as most people didn't realize. (He got that tidbit of information from Dragon, whose full name was apparently Monkey D. Dragon. What the 'D' meant? He had no idea.) Sabo decided to sate his curiosity by going to the town square and scaling the execution platform. At the top, not out of breath in the least, Sabo surveyed the people milling about below. The sun was just setting on the horizon, bathing the ocean and rooftops in a beautiful golden glow.

“Hey! Get down from there!”

Sabo looked down to see men clad in marine uniforms marching up the stairs. Sabo ran for the edge of the platform and slid down the side as quickly as he had climbed up. Once he hit the ground, he ran away into one of the alleys nearby.

Since his first night, his sleeping hours were spent in the alcove in the wall of a decrepit house.

  


Growing up in Loguetown, Sabo usually managed to avoid having a boring day. He spent his time picking the pockets of wealthy visitors, teasing the marines stationed on the island, and watching the sunset from the execution platform before returning for the night in the old, abandoned house he's bunked in when he first arrived. Sometimes he played with other kids, but that was usually put to an end pretty quickly when their parents forbade them to go near him because he was a “bad influence.” (Well, they weren't exactly wrong. He didn't lead a saintly lifestyle, after all.) He even got a few odd jobs every once in a while, including chasing troublemakers off from robbing shops and pirates terrorizing citizens when the marines couldn't handle it. For a long time he was on his own when it came to feeding and cleaning himself, and especially keeping up his strength by exercising and beating up thugs who underestimated him. That is, until he met Smoker.

He was fifteen when it happened. He'd just finished knocking a group of thugs unconscious; they had attempted to rob the bartender who had known the Pirate King when this white-haired marine approached.

“Did you do this?” he'd asked, sounding vaguely impressed.

Sabo tightened his grip on the pipe he'd chosen as his go-to weapon since he was ten. A blunette woman, another marine, came around the corner, cheeks flushed and three more marines behind her.

“Smoker _-san_...”

Whatever she was going to say obviously fled her mind at the sight of Sabo. She drew the sword sheathed at her side. This was the first time Sabo had ever seen her amongst the marines – same with...Smoker – but she seemed to know about him. He raised his pipe in response to her wordless challenge but before either could attack, Smoker put out an arm to stop the woman.

“Enough, Tashigi. Cuff these ruffians and drag them off to cells.”

Tashigi looked like she wanted to protest, but then she wilted a little and, with a sharp glare at Sabo, she sheathed her blade. With the men who'd accompanied her, she cuffed the unconscious thugs and they lugged them away.

“What's your name?” Smoker asked.

“Sabo,” the blond replied, unsure if the man was asking out of genuine curiosity or not. There was no point in lying, though.

By the look on his face, Smoker already heard plenty about him, but just as Sabo was tensing in preparation for a fight, Smoker nodded and took a step back.

“Stay out of trouble,” was all the marine said before he left.

Sabo remained in place, bewildered, until the old bartender ordered him inside to receive a few belis in return for protecting the bar.

  


Over the next few months, Sabo had more than one run-in with Smoker and Tashigi. They always showed up in time to lock up the bastards that Sabo knocked to the ground. Tashigi always seemed to hate him for some reason – he had a feeling it was because he stayed away from committing open crimes and the marines had nothing on him, but he wasn't exactly a law-abiding citizen either. Smoker never said 'thank you' or anything for helping out with clearing the streets of scum, but he didn't shoot him with poisonous looks, either, and Sabo wasn't doing what he did for the marines, anyways, so he didn't much care.

“Why are you doing this?” Smoker asked once as he and Sabo watched Tashigi lead shackled criminals and marine underlings down the street towards the small base. 

“A guy's gotta earn a living, right?” Sabo twirled his pipe absentmindedly, then rested it against his shoulder.

Smoker gave him an assessing look, then snorted, taking two cigars out of the straps on his vest and lighting them. Sabo wrinkled his nose, but didn't voice his disgust at the habit. He knew about Smoker's Devil Fruit ability at this point and was less than impressed that he used it as an excuse to smoke cancerous cigars.

“I've got a proposition for you,” Smoker began.

“I'm not going to join the marines,” Sabo said immediately. The very thought made a tendril of dread curl in Sabo's chest. He wasn't much of a life saver, anyway.

“I wasn't going to ask you to,” Smoker scoffed. For a twenty-seven year old, he could drop to a teenager's level pretty easily. “I've seen the way you fight. I want you to spar against my men, and Tashigi. They could use a lesson in hand-to-hand combat.”

That...actually sounded interesting.

“And, of course, you won't have to do this for free,” Smoker added.

That incentive was a nice touch, too.

“I don't need the belis,” Sabo decided after a moment. “But I would like a ship. In three years.”

Smoker raised a brow. “What, are you planning on becoming a pirate?”

The thought excited Sabo, as it always did, but, like always, it felt wrong, too. Like something was missing.

“Nah.” Sabo grinned. “I just want to go on an adventure.”

Smoker sighed out a cloud of smoke and nodded decisively, offering a gloved hand to Sabo. “Sure. You got yourself a deal.”

They shook on it and Sabo finally felt like he was getting somewhere.

  


Sabo spent the next three years continuing on as always, with the added hobby of knocking cocky marines on their asses. It was plenty of fun, and it was more entertaining than exercising every day without anyone to actually fight. He turned into a tall, lean man instead of remaining a lanky but strong teenager.

“Hey, Sabo, come with me,” Smoker called after a bout of sparring with marines who, by this point, knew better than to rush into a fight with him.

Sabo followed the Devil Fruit user through the streets and to the docks, and he found himself stunned when Smoker stopped in front of a ship. It definitely wasn't new, but it looked well-cared for.

“I couldn't get you a marine ship, and of course I couldn't ask for funds to get some random civilian a ship for an adventure, but we have plenty of pirate ships to spare at this point, and this one seems big enough for five.”

Sabo took a moment to register the fact that this was really happening, then another minute to let what Smoker said sink in.

“Wait, five?”

Smoker waved a hand and Sabo followed the gesture to see two men and two women standing nearby, chatting. When they saw they were being looked at, they joined the two at the ship. One of the men Sabo recognized as one of the marines from his early sparring days with them. The other three he was pretty sure he glimpsed around town. Heck, the two girls might've been kids he played with when he was younger.

“They want to join you on your adventure, and besides, you can't run a ship by yourself. A simple fishing boat would never make it on the Grandline.”

He was right, so Sabo got the introductions out of the way immediately. Kita Hyobe, a (now) ex-marine, who knew how to cook a decent meal; Luciano, an ex-convict who knew how to repair a lot of things thanks to community service; Helene, a bold girl who knew how to get people to listen and had a bit of experience with repairing weapons in her free time; and Inna, a soft-spoken girl who actually knew what she was doing with medical supplies that Sabo couldn't even name.

“Good luck on your adventure,” Smoker said as Luciano and Kita unfurled the sails, tossing Sabo an item he called a Log Pose. Helene and Inna were below deck, sifting through supplies. Sabo wanted to set sail immediately, since it was still early enough in the day that it wouldn't get dark for a fair amount of hours.

“Thanks,” Sabo replied with a grin. “We'll be fine, though.”

“I don't doubt it,” Smoker mumbled under his breath as they set sail.

  


Navigating the sea turned out to not be such a tough thing to do. Smoker had provided them with maps of the East Blue, despite the fact that they had not far to go before they reached the Grandline, and even a few sketches of Grandline maps that were salvaged from shipwrecks and sat around uselessly at the main headquarters (why Smoker had them at all, Sabo would never know). Getting into the Grandline was a bit of a challenge, but it would've been more so had Sabo been alone, since he only had one eye to see out of. That's where Helene came in handy, locating the single opening of Reverse Mountain and guiding them through. From there, it was a rapid ride to the Grandline.

The Grandline was like nothing Sabo could ever have imagined – it was so much more! Things were bumpy at first, running into pirates who were also just starting on their Grandline journey. Though Sabo and his crew always managed to drive them off, they couldn't work together efficiently. Kita and Helene butted heads too often, Inna couldn't even bring herself to raise a weapon against anyone, much less someone attacking her, and Luciano went overboard with attacking and ended up creating most of the damage he had to repair. So Sabo decided it was time to take charge – he'd let Helene do most of the work up until this point, because he was writing in his journal and mapping out the Grandline as they went. He made them go through team exercises for weeks of, thankfully, uninterrupted time. When they next encountered a pirate crew, they worked together like an efficient team. Helene and Kita still bickered, but they watched each others' backs. Luciano took charge of putting the ship out of commission and tossing men overboard rather than sending them through the floorboards. Even Inna managed to bring a telescope down on a pirate's head when they were trying to attack Luciano from behind, though she was shaking like a leaf afterwards.

They were in no rush to conquer the Grandline like the pirates, though, so they lingered when they wished too before moving along, though they mostly stuck to the beginning of the Grandline so Sabo could write to his heart's content about the history of the island they visited. They took belis from pirates they defeated; they had to have belis to restock, after all. Sabo even learned about haki and how to use it. This carried on for three years before they were finally ready to go a long stretch. Not long after leaving a winter island that was house to a crazy witch-doctor-lady who was _really_ old (Sabo had a healing bump on his head from voicing that thought aloud), Inna had more medical supplies and books; she shut herself in the infirmary, happy enough to absorb the information and be even more helpful to her troublesome crewmates. Sabo, on the other hand, stood on deck while the others sheltered themselves from the cold weather, musing over information he received on an interesting event that occurred right before they arrived. A pirate apparently freed the island from the tyranny of an ex-king-turned-pirate, a pirate by the name of Luffy. It sounded...familiar somehow.

“C-Captain, get inside,” Inna called out the door of the infirmary, looking more firm than she had been when they first set sail, though her dark pink nose and the trembling through her small body ruined the effect.

“Aye, doctor _-chan_ ,” he teased back.

  


Their next stop was Alabasta, an island that was inhabited by a Shichibukai and was almost to the point of war.

“Are we sure it's safe here?” Inna whispered.

She, Luciano, and Kita were accompanying Sabo through a town close to the port while Helene watched the ship. The three others were stripped down as much as they could be, or wanted to be. That meant Inna was in a tank top borrowed from Helene, since she didn't own one, and shorts; Luciano was in pants that were fraying at the edges and shirtless, and Kita was in his old white marine uniform. (Helene had been in her bra and short-shorts last Sabo had seen, happily soaking up sunlight like a content cat.) Sabo was in his normal suit and top hat. All in all, they were a strange looking bunch and definitely got a lot of strange looks, but Sabo rather liked his crew in all their uniqueness. 

“It's fine,” Sabo assured her.

Nanohana was the name of the port town and it seemed as good a place as any to restock. But first things first. Sabo was starving!

“I'm going to go look for food,” he announced, much to the annoyance of Kita and amusement of Inna; Luciano didn't really care. “Do you guys want to come?”

“No,” Kita and Luciano replied, while Inna politely shook her head.

“We'll restock and meet you back at the ship,” Kita added.

Sabo nodded and waved them off. Once they were out of sight, Sabo set off to find a good place to eat. It turned out to be much easier than he thought. There was a bar, crowded but nice and cool inside – a welcome relief from the outside. He took his hat off as soon as he entered and made his way towards the bar, where a few men sat apart from another man, who was shirtless and had an impressive tattoo on his back that Sabo recognized as the Jolly Roger of the Whitebeard Pirates. Sabo decided to take a seat next to him and flagged down the bartender, who was gazing, flabbergasted, at the plates swiftly being cleared by the freckled man.

“May I order a meal?” he asked politely.

“Sorry, sir,” the bartender huffed, sweat beading his brow as he offered an apologetic smile. “This pirate has already pretty much bought my whole store of food.”

“Oh...” Sabo was disappointed, and so was his stomach, which let out a plaintive growl, but Sabo just drummed his fingers on the counter. “Could I get some water then?” The man's face twisted and Sabo sighed. “How about sake?”

Alcohol on an empty stomach was not smart, but sake was probably the least alcoholic beverage he could order, so... The bartender nodded and turned away to the rows of bottles behind him. As he did, Sabo realized that the pirate was looking at him. Their eyes met and Sabo felt like his heart had stopped as the grey eyes assessed him. The pirate must've felt the same way because he suddenly started choking on his food. Startled as the brunet began coughing roughly, Sabo pounded a fist on his back firmly and a piece of chicken dislodged out of the pirate's mouth.

“Hah... Hah...” The pirate panted, then suddenly began laughing. “Sorry, sorry,” he chuckled. “You're just... I just...” He rubbed the back of his head and grinned widely. “Damn, you're so cute you made me forget my pick-up line.”

Sabo just stared, trying to make his expression as impassive as he could (Helene used pick-up lines on him all the time just to see him flustered, he should be able to do this, dammit!!), but he could feel heat slowly pooling in his cheeks, climbing up to his ears and sliding down his neck, and it certainly wasn't from the sun outside. 

“Ah, you were hungry, right?” The man gestured to the many untouched plates. “Be my guest.”

Sabo felt flustered, more than he had ever been. He had never been interested in anyone, male or female, but this pirate was certainly flipping his world upside-down. But he wasn't about to turn down free food, so he took three plates out of...over twenty? (he couldn't exactly count with all the cleared and stacked plates) and began to eat. The bartender's jaw seemed to have dropped to the floor, but he didn't say a word as he set Sabo's mug of sake in front of him. When Sabo finished, he stood to go and the pirate scrambled to his feet to be face to face with him. They were roughly the same height.

“Thank you for the food,” Sabo said politely, trying not to make a fool out of himself. “Ah, what's your name?”

The pirate grinned. “I'm A--”

“Captain!”

Inna flew through the doors, not noticing the hungry looks a few men cast her. She was panting and her skin was bright pink from the sun.

“Kita got into a fight!”

Sabo put his top hat back on and tipped it towards the pirate. “Duty calls. Catch you out in the Grandline.”

He left before the man could say anything. It didn't take long to resolve Kita's little situation and soon enough, they were all back on the ship. That night, Sabo went to bed early, not mentioning to anyone (least of all Helene) about the achingly familiar man.

  


_“Sabo!”_

  


_**Journal Log #98:** _

_**I don't know what's happening. I keep having dreams that I forget as soon as I wake up. It's been happening ever since I met that one pirate in Alabasta. I haven't exactly been following the news, so I don't know the names of the Whitebeard Pirates, except Marco the Phoenix and the traitor Blackbeard, and for some reason I'm afraid to find out what his name is. Perhaps it's for the best. It's unlikely that we'll ever meet again.** _

  


Sabo didn't even know how it happened. He met Luffy unofficially at Sabaody, witnessing the rubberman – wow, those arms could stretch – freeing a mermaid. And, well, he was all about freedom, so he and his crew helped, which apparently made them friends in Luffy's book. But that left them right in the middle of the chaos when the marines and Pacifistas showed up. It was even more of a shock when Kuma, who Sabo hadn't seen since he was ten, appeared. He was...unrecognizable. His crew split when the Straw Hats, as they called themselves, did. But then they began to vanish one by one at the hands of Kuma. Luciano disappeared when the reindeer-monster did. Kita was behind the cyborg when they vanished. Inna was popped out of view? existence? with the orange-haired lady. Luffy tried to get to the black haired woman, screaming her name – Robin – as she tried to run and Helene glowed like a star on earth as she triggered her abilities, but both were displaced with a swipe of Kuma's hand. Sabo's knees felt week as Luffy collapsed sobbing. He felt hot and cold at the same time and like he couldn't possible move another muscle. But then Kuma aimed for Luffy and Sabo was suddenly standing over the boy, sore and trembling, but holding his pipe and swinging it, desperate to protect someone and _not be useless_ , and he swore he saw a glint of recognition in Kuma's eyes, but then everything when dark.

  


Being sent to the island of women was most definitely not what Sabo wanted to wake up to. Luffy was ready to go search for his crew and it made Sabo feel inadequate to be a captain of his own because he still felt like he was in shock. But when Luffy received the news of his brother being executed in just a few days, he was raring to go and Sabo wouldn't be left behind. Luffy was optimistic and strong, and Sabo felt like he would see his crew again if he stuck around with him, so he agreed to help Luffy rescue his brother. Besides, when he saw, in the newspaper image, that the man to be executed – Portgas D. Ace – was the pirate from Alabasta, he couldn't just sit back and let it happen. 

Breaking into Impel Down was not a part of the plan that Sabo was enthusiastic about, but he went along willingly because Luffy was the Captain in this adventure and what he said went. Sabo didn't think he could lead such an important mission, anyway, but he sure as hell was willing to help. But when they made it to the bottom and had to escape to the top? Well, he wasn't happy about going all that way for nothing, but with two ex-Shichibukai on their team, it would probably be a little easier than getting down had been. They managed to get out and onto a marine ship, almost losing Bon Kurei in the process, but Sabo had lost enough people in such a short time and hadn't let the idiot go alone, dragging him all the way out of the prison and onto the ship with the help of Jinbe's impressive water abilities. As they made the journey towards Marineford to stop the execution, Sabo took plenty of naps.

  


_“Hey, you mentioned that nobles get married at eighteen, right?”_

_“Yeah, that's why we agreed to leave at seventeen. Remember?”_

_“Yeah, yeah. I know. I was just making sure.”_

**Silence.**

_“Sabo?”_

_“Yeah, Ace?”_

_“You know... Even if we weren't going to become pirates before then...I'd marry you, if it'd save you from being unhappy.”_

_”...”_

_“Uh... Unless you would be unhappy marrying me. You know, since we want to be free and all, and marriage isn't very freeing from what I've heard...”_

**Silence.**

_“Ace?”_

_“Mhm?”_

_“...I'd marry you, if I could marry anyone I wanted.”_

_“Really? Haha, good, because I'd marry you, too.”_

_“Shishishi! I knew it! Ace luvs Sabo! Sabo luvs Ace! ...are you guys gonna kiss, then?”_

_**“Luffy?!”** _

  


Arriving in the middle of the war taking place at Marineford was definitely the most exciting thing Sabo had done, aside from actually getting into the Grandline. And he was dwelling much less on the thought of his teammates with fighting going on on every inch of the ice covering the ocean. He was mostly back-up, but he stuck as close to Luffy as he could, gripping the pipe he ripped out of the marine ship close so he wouldn't lose his only weapon (besides his haki, though with his throbbing headache, his Observation Haki wasn't going to be of much use). He was definitely never leaving either of his brothers' sides when they got out of there. Look at how much trouble they'd gotten in while he was gone!

When Ace was free and they were all retreating, Sabo stuck with them. It was funny how surprised Ace seemed to see him. Sabo was sure that if they weren't in such a dire situation, he'd drop another pick up line. But everything quit being so amusing when Ace tried to go against Akainu, and Akainu tried to kill Luffy. Sabo dove right in front of his baby brother, coating his hands and pipe in haki, though he knew it wouldn't hold long. Not that it mattered because Ace – _wonderful, stupid, protective Ace_ – was in front of him, a fist of lava sticking out of his chest. Sabo felt like he was viewing everything from far away as he cried out in anger, swinging his pipe around Ace and striking Akainu, making him stumble back and release Ace. Sabo caught him and grabbed Luffy, who seemed to have fallen comatose at the sight of Ace's gaping wound, dragging them back as the pirates around them drove Akainu back. Sabo managed to get them back to the ice before Akainu caught up, but Jinbe protected them. Sabo's vision was faltering; he was coated in Ace's blood and he couldn't hear the older boy breathing. Crocodile sent them into the air and Akainu's next attack went right through Jinbe and skimmed across Luffy's chest. Sabo felt his breath catch when Luffy didn't even react, and everything went black.

  


Waking up was unpleasant, but Sabo was about just as achy as he thought he'd be. That seemed to be happening a lot. He wasn't dead, and that was a sobering thought, because what if Ace and Luffy were? If it weren't for his nakama, and Luffy's, then he wouldn't have been able to force himself out of the bed he found himself in. He stumbled into a hallway of some sort of ship? and walked down it, following the echoes of noises until he reached what looked like the infirmary.

“Saaaaboooo!”

Something small and fast collided hard with him and he felt his ribs (where he got a not-so-friendly kick from a rather strong marine) twinge painfully as rubber arms wrapped around him multiple times and _squeezed_ the air from his lungs.

“Are you really Sabo?” the blond managed to make out through Luffy's sob-ridden words.

“Lu, I told you, I don't know if he is,” a weak voice scolded.

Sabo felt like ice was flowing through his veins as he looked up and met grey eyes he thought he'd never see again.

“I don't care!” Luffy wailed. “Thank you, thank you so much for saving us!”

Sabo rested a hand on Luffy's hair gently, looking down at his brother, and he smiled.

“You're still such a crybaby.”

That shut Luffy up for about half a minute before he was sobbing desperately again, squeezing Sabo even tighter. He swore he heard his bones groan in response. But he coddled the little brother he had missed without even realizing it for ten years until Luffy fell into an exhausted sleep. By then, Ace was sleeping, too, so Sabo hefted Luffy into the empty medical bed next to Ace's and collapsed into the chair between the beds, dozing off almost as soon as his head bowed and his chin brushed his chest.

  


“Guess what I'm wearing?” Ace teased as he and Sabo circled each other.

Sabo, blindfolded as per Rayleigh's instructions, could vaguely feel Ace's presence and yeah, he needed to work on his haki. “What?” Sabo asked, lips twitching.

“The smile you gave me.”

Sabo snorted, unable to help it, even as his ears began to feel suspiciously warm, and he didn't notice Ace charging him until they collided.

“Oooo!” Luffy hissed sympathetically from the sidelines somewhere to their left.

Sabo felt his lungs flatten completely as Ace landed on him, and as he gasped for breath, Ace rolled off of him and did the same, obviously realizing that making such a move while still recovering from his organ-melting wound was not a good idea. Good thing Trafalgar Law was an amazing and creepy doctor who happened to have a lot of organs and body parts lying around for “medical purposes.”

Ace's hand felt out Sabo's and Sabo gripped it back as Rayleigh decided it was a good time for them to take a break while he took Luffy out to fight giant animals again. Slowly but steadily, they were getting stronger.

“Hey, Sabo,” Ace called softly.

“Mm?”

Releasing his hand, Ace rolled over so he was partly laying on Sabo and gently removed the blindfold. Sabo blinked a few times to get used to the sunlight again, and it was still strange to not be wearing his patch, but Ace and Luffy assured him they liked him the way he was, scars and all, even if he himself didn't.

“Your eyes are bluer than the Grandline, and baby I'm lost at sea.”

Sabo still didn't understand why he blushed at Ace's cheesy pick up lines, but he was sure his cheeks were taking on a nice, rosy hue from the way Ace's grin widened.

“If _love_ was written on every grand of sand in Alabasta, that still doesn't equal my love for you,” the brunet decided to add for good measure.

Sabo's lips twitched and before Ace could realize and stop him, he shifted his weight and sent Ace sprawling on his back while Sabo hovered over him. Sabo brushed his lips against Ace's and Ace wrapped an arm around his waist as he sat up. Luffy had encouraged (forced) them to talk, and they did, for hours, while they were still in Law's ship. And, well, a lot of things came out, including how they felt for each other. Even with his memories a little fuzzy, Sabo knew he had loved Ace more than life itself and it had been killing him inside to leave him and Luffy behind. And Ace still didn't understand how much he meant. To Luffy, to the Whitebeard Pirates...and to Sabo.

“Ace... Are you a dictionary?” Sabo rested his forehead against Ace's. “Because you give meaning to my life.”

Ace's eyes widened and Sabo swore they got a little watery, but before he could be sure, Ace tugged him into another kiss and whispered against Sabo's lips, “If I had to choose between breathing and loving you, I would use my last breath to say, 'I love you'.”

Sabo buried his face in Ace's shoulder, squeezing the lovable idiot for all he was worth because damn if he had a way with words he definitely didn't as a child.

  


_**“I love you.”** _

_**“I love you, too.”** _

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N: Sorry for rushing through the Arcs like that, but I had to get to Marineford. And after that. Pick up lines are my weakness, can't you tell? And the end, with the italics and bold? That's past and present Sabo and Ace confessing love for each other~ I hope you enjoyed it!!**


End file.
